The invention relates to a pack of large surface washers. Such a pack is known from WO 84/03874, to which more detailed reference will be made hereinafter.
Large-surface washers must be kept in a certain order for storage and transportation, and it is desired in particular that this order be maintained until the washers are loaded into the magazine of a placing (washer applying) machine. Stacking problems occur in particular with spacing elements, with reinforcing ribs or with spikes projecting from the underside.
If such stacks of large-surface washers are packed in a cardboard box, for example, advantages are certainly obtained for storage and transportation, but disadvantages result with respect to the necessary loading into a magazine. In practice, loading is limited to what can be grasped by hand, meaning individual washers or a small stack thereof. Even if such stacks of large-surface washers are bound together with adhesive tape, for example, to form a pack, the adhesive tape must be removed beforehand in order that the washers can be loaded into the magazine.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,580 there is known a pack for a washer stack held together by a plastic tape passed through a through-hole provided in all washers. At the ends of the stack the plastic tape is doubled back and heat-sealed to itself, thus forming a kind of knot that is larger than the through-holes in the washers, in order thereby to hold these together. After the washers have been loaded into the magazine, the plastic tape is pulled vigorously enough to deform one heat-sealed end of the tape sufficiently to slip through the through-holes in the washers.
However, the size of the end of the tape must be sufficiently matched to the size of the through-holes in the washers to ensure that the stack is held together, while still allowing the tape to be pulled out of the stack.
To remove the hardware from the stack, the plastic rods are pulled out or cut off in successive steps. In the process, however, it is sometimes necessary to remove fragments of plastic rods remaining in the through-holes, which is time-consuming.